Comparing the Performance Gap Between Males and Females in the Older Age Groups in IRONMAN® 70.3: An Internet-Based Cross-Sectional Study of More Than 800,000 Race Records

Sports Medicine - Open

Original Research Article

Marilia Santos Andrade¹  Ivan Cuk²  Mabliny Thuany³  Katja Weiss⁴  Elias Villiger⁵  Beat Knechtle⁶  Pantelis T. Nikolaidis⁷  David Valero⁸ 

[1] Department of Physiology, Federal University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil;Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia;Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal;Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;Klinik für Allgemeine Innere Medizin, Kantonsspital St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland;Medbase St. Gallen am Vadianplatz, Vadianstrasse 26, 9001, St. Gallen, Switzerland;Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;School of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece;Ultra Sports Science Foundation, Pierre-Benite, France;

关键词: Ultra-endurance;    Swimming;    Cycling;    Running;    Age group;    Master athlete;    Multi-sport;    Sex differences;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40798-023-00636-x

 received in 2023-02-12, accepted in 2023-09-13,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe sex difference in the three split disciplines (swimming, cycling, and running) and overall race times in triathlon races has mainly been investigated for the Olympic distance and IRONMAN® triathlon formats, but not for the half IRONMAN® distance, i.e., the IRONMAN® 70.3. The aim of the present study was to investigate the sex differences in IRONMAN® 70.3 by age group in 5-year intervals for the split disciplines of this race. Data from 823,459 records (625,393 males and 198,066 females) of all age group finishers (in 5-year intervals) competing in all official IRONMAN® 70.3 races held worldwide between 2004 and 2020 were analyzed, and sex differences by age group and split disciplines were evaluated.ResultsMales were faster than females in all split disciplines and all age groups. The sex difference was lower in swimming than in cycling and running and less pronounced for triathletes between 20 and 50 years of age. After the age of 60 years, females were able to reduce the sex difference to males in swimming and cycling, but not in running, where the reduction in the sex difference started after the age of 70 years. The lowest sex difference was in the age group 75 + years for swimming and cycling and in the age group 30–34 years for running. Across age groups, the sex difference was U-shaped in swimming and running, with an increase after 18–24 years in swimming and after 40–44 years in running. In contrast, the sex difference decreased continuously with the increasing age for cycling.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the study found that the sex difference in performance decreases with age in the IRONMAN® 70.3 race distance. However, females did not outperform males at older ages. Notably, sex differences were observed across different disciplines, with swimming displaying lower differences compared to cycling and running. These findings underscore the complex interplay between age, sex, and performance in endurance sports, emphasizing the need for additional research to understand the factors influencing these differences.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

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